Re: SHE has final say!!

Disagree Fert...Marmie is the heart of the problem. His schemes and play calling have not worked for as long as he has been in the NFL.

When you have people like Fischer and Polley leave and say things like they are better off because of the defensive coaching in St. Louis. One has to wonder.

Yeah that's cool. I don't expect very many, if any, would agree.

I really don't understand how Martz can be supported if a person believes Marmie and his schemes are so inept. It's hard to believe that Martz is that ignorant about the defensive side of the ball and would hire a totally inept DC just for the sake of having a close friend on his staff. If that is the case, and personally I don't think it is, then how does a person continue to support Martz? I don't understand the reasoning. If I believed that I would be calling for Martz' head.

I never agreed with the hiring of Marmie and after last season I thought he should be let go. I wanted him fired after the first game vs. the hawks as well.

When I realized that simply was not going to happen, I started paying closer attention to the situations and alignments the Rams were using and comparing them to the other teams around the league. Granted I have not done any indepth film studies, but from what is readily avaiable, I don't see the Rams doing a whole hell of a lot of things that are different from the rest of the league.

I would not give a lot of credence to what Polly or Fisher say, considering they both had their most productive seasons with the Rams last year under Marmie. Polly is not setting the league on fire in the Ravens scheme. Fisher might match or exceed his totals from last year, with the Rams, but as of today he has a ways to go.

The Rams defensive stats are horrible, but if you look at them closely there is not a lot of difference from being in the top five to dead last. With 14 pts. less per game the Rams would be 3rd in pts. allowed. If you break that down to two field goals instead of TD's per game, they would be 22nd in the league and only 4.7 pts. per game seperate 22nd from 3rd - in points allowed per game.

If you look at yards per game the Rams would be 10th with 68 yards less per game. That breaks down to 17 yards per quarter.

With a decimated secondary, very little production from the LB's, new players, young and inexperienced players, poor field position, and an often stagnant offense, it seems rather odd that fans can so easily blame Marmie's schemes for all of the problems with the defense.

Then there is the motivation factor to go along with the scheme. I don't know, maybe it is just me, but it seems if you are going to call out the DC you should be calling out the entire defensive coaching staff. Hard to believe Vitt is that inept and can't get the LB's motivated. Hard to believe Kollar is that inept and can't get the DL motivated. Hard to believe Schott is that inept and can't get the secondary motivated.

So, you have three other guys on the staff with proven success, but these guys would rather not speak out about how inept Marmie is? Maybe they are content with eating doughnuts all day and acting fat, dumb and stupid?

Doesn't make a lot of sense to me. Maybe it's just easier to blame the DC's scheme and his motivational skills, rather than the players on the field?

Re: SHE has final say!!

The only time I could really pinpoint blame on Marmie and his schemes were last week against Houston. The time when Houston's FB caught a pass in the flat and scored the TD....the scheme had Little covering the RB. Little's instincts always tell him to rush the passer and it wasn't any different on that play. Immediately Little was toast.

Re: SHE has final say!!

Maybe it's just easier to blame the DC's scheme and his motivational skills, rather than the players on the field?

Ferter, I think there's more than enough blame to go around. For example, do I think it was poor scheming that allowed Warner and the Cards inside slant routes at will two weeks ago? Yes. However, is it scheme when Carter (in Houston) overpursues the run to the inside and leaves the flats open for Carr? No. Or when Hargrove (pick nearly any game) overpursues and gets beat on a cut-back? That's on the player as well.

"Before the gates of excellence the high gods have placed sweat; long is the road thereto and rough and steep at first; but when the heights are reached, then there is ease, though grievously hard in the winning." --- Hesiod

Re: SHE has final say!!

Maybe it's not the best idea or scheme to drop Little into coverage, but I think he is capable of covering a FB.

I still think that was a mental error on the part of Little. He starts to rush the QB, when his assignment had to be the coverage. Otherwise why would he stop after taking the steps towards the QB, turn and run to the back? If he knew there was coverage other than himself then he would continue to the QB.

I'm not sure how you can completely shut down inside slants. Seems the best you can do is contain them with sure tackling. The Rams did not do a good job of this, especially on the 3rd & goal from the 13 slant play, where they whiffed badly by several players.

Maybe you can use the bump but it's going to be hard to prevent a receiver from the inside slant with the bump. And you run the risk of him cutting up field and finding a hole deeper in the zone. Perhaps the bump could disrupt timing on the slant, but the slant really isn't a timing route per se. Maybe you could hope to get a DL in the throwing lane and bat the pass down. Maybe a LB snifs it out and stays home and gets a pick or knocks the ball down. Other than that, I'm uncertain of any sure fire way to prevent the slants. I think you just have to try and contain them with sure tackling and possibly get a break with a TO.